Written Answers. - Health Service Spending.
Gerry Reynolds
Ceist:
352
Mr. G. Reynolds
asked the
Minister for Health and Children
his views on the fact that, despite increased spending on the health services of 45% over the past number of years, there is little in terms of a service to the community by return.
[8230/02]
Since this Government came into power, a number of major policy initiatives underpinned by the most significant programme of investment in the health services have been launched that reflect the reorientation and reshaping of the health services so as to improve people's health and quality of life. These initiatives cover a wide range of health and personal social services, from organisational reform through the establishment of the ERHA in March 2000, the Social Services Inspectorate in April 1999 and the Office of Tobacco Control in July 1999 through to the launching of major national strategies, such as the cardiovascular strategy, the health promotion strategy and the national children's strategy and, of course culminating in the new national health strategy, Quality and Fairness: A Health System for You late last year.
This year, over €8 billion is being invested in the health services which represents an overall increase for the health services since 1997 of 125%. Currently, there are in the region of 85,000 people working in the health services as against 67,000 in 1997. While much work remains to be done, the benefits of this Government's major programme of investment and reform is reflected right across the health services.
The number of people on public hospital in-patient waiting lists at September 2001, the latest date for which figures are available, was 26,345. This figure represents a decrease of 5,907 or 18% on the comparable figure for September 1997. During the period September 2000 to September 2001, the number waiting for cardiac surgery was down by 61%, the number waiting for ENT procedures was down by 30% and the number waiting for gynaecology procedures was down by 28%. Dedicated funding of €138 million was made available to health agencies between 1997 and 2001 to enable hospitals to carry out waiting list procedures. A further €43.48 million has been indicated to health agencies under the waiting list initiative for 2002. Provisional figures for 2001 indicate that some 920,000 patients were dis charged following treatment in public hospitals, an increase of nearly 50,000 over 2000.
The new health strategy includes a plan covering the actions required to address the issue of waiting lists and particularly waiting times. The targets set out in the strategy are that by the end of 2002 no adult will wait longer than 12 months and no child will wait longer than six months for treatment, by the end of 2003 no adult will wait longer than six months and no child will wait longer than three months for treatment and by the end of 2004 no public patients will wait longer than three months for treatment. A new dedicated treatment purchase fund will be used for the purpose of purchasing treatments for public patients, either from private hospitals in Ireland or, if necessary, from abroad.
The single most important limiting factor for admission to hospital is bed availability. In this context, a comprehensive review of bed capacity needs has been conducted in both the acute and non-acute sectors. I recently announced the commissioning of an additional 709 acute beds in public hospitals at a cost of €65 million. This is the first phase of the provision of an additional 3,000 acute beds over the period to 2011, as announced in the health strategy.
The health strategy acknowledges the central role of primary care in the future development of the health services. A major refocus on primary care services is marked by the introduction of a new model of primary care involving a core inter-disciplinary primary care team, which will work with a wider network of health and social care professionals and will offer 24 hour cover. In addition, the ongoing establishment of 24 hour GP co-operatives as part of the strengthening of primary care will help to reduce demand from, and treat appropriately, patients who would otherwise have to attend at an A&E department.
Other improvements that can be seen across the health services are: for intellectual disability and autism services, additional funding in 2001 of €48 million revenue was allocated, followed by €38 million in January 2002; between 2000 and 2001, additional revenue and capital funding has provided around 840 new residential places, 296 new respite places and over 1,500 new day places, in addition to the enhancement of other services; and for physical and sensory disability services, funding, capital and non-capital, allocated for the period mid-1997-2002 is over €175 million.
Additional developments in the period 1997 to 2001 include: an additional 51 long-term residential places; an additional 95 residential respite places; 400 new day care places; 54 additional occupational therapy posts; an additional 37 speech and language therapy posts; and an additional 33 physiotherapy posts.
Additional revenue funding for the development of services for older people has increased significantly from €12.7 million in 1997 to an additional €72.9 million in 2001, including nursing home subvention funding. The total additional funding between 1997 and 2001 has been €168 million and has resulted in over 1300 additional staff being approved for services for older people. From 1998 to 2001 over 550 additional beds have been provided in new community nursing units and over 1,250 day places per week have been provided in new day care centres. Additional funding of €87.8 million is being made available in 2002 for further development of the services.
This Government has allocated over €103 million to date to cancer services. Since 1997, 64 additional consultant posts have been created together with support staff. In recognition of the need to further develop cancer services, the national health strategy has identified the need for the preparation by the end of this year of a revised implementation plan for the national cancer strategy. This plan will be developed by the Department of Health and Children in conjunction with the National Cancer Forum and will set out the key investment areas to be targeted for the development of cancer services over the next seven years.
The ongoing programme of strategic reforms across all sectors of the health services that is backed by unprecedented levels of investment has delivered and is continuing to deliver major improvements in the services throughout the country.
